# Ice in soft drinks: Are Europeans right or superstitious? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 12, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093 "2013-02-12T17:17:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/101 "2013-02-15T18:08:55Z")
You get maybe one or two small cubes of ice if you ask for ice in your pop at a restaurant in the Philippines as well. Filipinos like their pops cold, it’s a matter of cost. Ice costs energy to make, and most filipino refrigerators and freezers are tiny compared to American ones, so it’d be very hard to have enough ice for a family to all drink with ice in their drinks every meal. The “get what you pay for, soda not water” argument doesn’t make any sense in America where glasses are huge and refills are free or nearly free. I could see getting less ice if I had to pay for refills and the glasses were not 'mericuh sized though. I’m not a small guy and even I think our pop glasses are ridiculously huge. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/102 "2013-02-15T18:20:52Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Wait, are you saying that HFCS makes you feel less full than sugar? I can honestly say that, aside from maybe milk, beverages rarely make me fell very full. > > Is there somewhere I can read about this? As far as I know, cost was the primary reason we made the switch in the US, as evidenced by the fact that cane sugar is still used in a lot of other countries. > **[Scientist salutes study showing lower satiety for fructose vs glucose drinks](https://www.beveragedaily.com/Article/2013/01/02/High-fructose-drinks-mean-less-satiety-than-glucose-rivals-study/)** > > Beverages high in fructose produce smaller increases in satiety hormones and associated feelings of satiety compared to drinks sweetened with the same amount of glucose, according to a new US study. > **[Diets | Livestrong.com](https://www.livestrong.com/scat/diets/)** > > This page has information on various diets, including popular diets for weight loss and specific health conditions. Get support to improve your health. "At our diets page, we unders... ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/103 "2013-02-15T19:26:08Z")
Thanks. A couple things about the study in the first link. 1. the preliminary findings were released just last month. Thus, I doubt it has much, if anything, to do with Coke’s decision to put it in their drinks. 2. the study compared 100% glucose to 100% fructose. The HFCS used in soft drinks is 55% glucose/44% fructose. The ratio is about 50/50 in cane sugar. In other words, it doesn’t look like its findings are applicable to HFCS vs cane sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/104 "2013-02-15T20:11:17Z")
My wife is Ukrainian, and she is does not like cold drinks in general, ice or not. If she pours a glass of juice from the refrigerator, she leaves the glass until it reaches room temperature before drinking it. She has told me that cold drinks make people ill, even after I tell her that Americans have our drinks cold all the time, that we prefer it that way, and that we even put _ice_ in them so that they stay cold. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/105 "2013-02-15T20:13:15Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Thanks. A couple things about the study in the first link. > > 1. the preliminary findings were released just last month. Thus, I doubt it has much, if anything, to do with Coke’s decision to put it in their drinks. > > 2. the study compared 100% glucose to 100% fructose. The HFCS used in soft drinks is 55% glucose/44% fructose. The ratio is about 50/50 in cane sugar. In other words, it doesn’t look like its findings are applicable to HFCS vs cane sugar. I just got you the first two studies that came up. This has been known for a couple of decades. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/106 "2013-02-15T20:23:43Z")
> [@Dahnlor](#): > > My wife is Ukrainian, and she is does not like cold drinks in general, ice or not. If she pours a glass of juice from the refrigerator, she leaves the glass until it reaches room temperature before drinking it. She has told me that cold drinks make people ill, even after I tell her that Americans have our drinks cold all the time, that we prefer it that way, and that we even put _ice_ in them so that they stay cold. Yeah, my folks are both from Poland, and there’s all sort of weird superstitions and folklore that seem to be prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe concerning the temperature of things. For example, my great-grandfather died of gastroenteritis (or something similar) and the family explanation for his early demise (he was 38) was “he drank cold water on a hot day.” There’s also stuff like if you’re a woman and sit on cold concrete/stone/etc., it will make you infertile. Lots of folklore out there. The whole “fan death,” if I had not known it was a Korean thing, I would have guessed Eastern European. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/107 "2013-02-15T20:30:10Z")
I just want to note that the resistance to cold drinks isn’t only European. I have a cookbook (and general reference, which makes it priceless) that I picked up in Southern Utah, which is filled with interesting ideas and advice. One pie ce of advice was to refrain from drinking chilled drinks, because its supposed to be unhealthy. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/108 "2013-02-15T21:20:09Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I just got you the first two studies that came up. This has been known for a couple of decades. Again, the difference in fructose levels between cane sugar and HFCS probably isn’t big enough to matter. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/109 "2013-02-16T01:49:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, my folks are both from Poland, and there’s all sort of weird superstitions and folklore that seem to be prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe concerning the temperature of things. For example, my great-grandfather died of gastroenteritis (or something similar) and the family explanation for his early demise (he was 38) was “he drank cold water on a hot day.” There’s also stuff like if you’re a woman and sit on cold concrete/stone/etc., it will make you infertile. Lots of folklore out there. The whole “fan death,” if I had not known it was a Korean thing, I would have guessed Eastern European. Maybe unrelated but my local Polish supermarket doesn’t sell chilled drinks typically apart from a small fridge with some cans. Although Irish people don’t like drinks quite as icy cold typically as North Americans we still like refrigerated beverages. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/110 "2013-02-16T04:56:39Z")
Assorted weigh-in on the thread. I spend a lot of time in Europe, most especially Germany. I have made many friends there, and I hear the sore throat and sour stomach a lot, and this is about cold drinks in general. Interestingly, one of the business associates I have been working with for years invited me to his home for dinner recently (that’s the first time that’s happened to me in Germany), and he was keeping his beer on the balcony. Given the weather, it was quite cold. Did I mention tat I love Bitburger? Incidentally, I have a pretty average sized American fridge, and his was easily as large. And I would not say he is wealthy- probably pretty middle class. Finally, I have been seeing the card-activated electricity in hotels more and more, and some times it can bevery difficult to find in the dark. At the Innside in Dresden I had to flag down a passing worker to show me where it was. And my coworker checking into the room across the hall had the same issue. Otherwise its a fantastic hotel, BTY. ---
**Author:** ![Doughbag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Doughbag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doughbag)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093/111 "2013-02-16T14:23:50Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Pizza Hut does too. Cool, good to know - will check that out, if I ever go there. > [@drew870mitchell](#): > > The United States has tariffs and price supports that keep the price of cane sugar artificially high inside our borders, and subsidies that keep the price of corn artificially low. That’s why US soft drinks all jumped ship from sugar to HFCS around 1985-1990. Sure sure, it’s all about the price - corn is not so heavily subsidised in the EU as it is in the US - Sugar is still cheaper than Cornsyrup. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ice-in-soft-drinks-are-europeans-right-or-superstitious/650093.md?page=5)